Equitable Trust Co. Has $351,000 Holdings in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Equitable Trust Co. cut its position in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) by 23.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,285 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,415 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in SmartFinancial were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMBK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 758,069 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,485,000 after purchasing an additional 32,418 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 437,793 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,563,000 after purchasing an additional 97,375 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 274,947 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,518,000 after purchasing an additional 40,104 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 208,193 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of SmartFinancial by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 127,177 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 3,390 shares in the last quarter. 58.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SMBK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $37.50 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of SmartFinancial in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of SmartFinancial in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

Shares of SMBK stock opened at $35.41 on Friday. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.58 and a 52-week high of $37.72. The stock has a market cap of $602.68 million, a PE ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.46.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.03. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 12.67% and a return on equity of 7.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

SmartFinancial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. SmartFinancial’s payout ratio is presently 12.96%.

About SmartFinancial

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.